


Deep Blue

by Pandamilo



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Divers AU, Fear of Drowning, fear of the unknown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-25 03:30:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20717354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandamilo/pseuds/Pandamilo
Summary: Michele could still see the light of his sister’s chest piece, but it seemed far off and flickering. Looking down at his own, he could feel the pressure crushing his chest as he looked at their depth. They had moved further down then they had discussed before leaving the boat.Michele looked back at where he had last seen his sister’s light, only to be faced with more darkness.“Sara? Jean, have you heard from Sara?” Michele snagged the connection between them and tugged. It floated effortlessly back at him, the cord now jagged and frayed.“Jean!”Static responded.





	Deep Blue

**Author's Note:**

> I finally get to share my yoihorrorzine piece! I was lucky enough to be an invited writer to this amazing zine and work with the beautiful and talented Liz - lalunavine (art piece is linked in the story so watch out!).  
I hope you all have a spooky September leading into a haunting October.

This is the [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6eGRdpIYULG1pA7B8PaSTX?si=ApqM3sd6Q_aMVjrtWDrqgg) I listened to while I was writing :P

* * *

It was meant to be a simple expedition, routine, no surprises.

Instead, they were looking down the belly of the beast and curiosity was their only push over the edge.

“This is a terrible idea.”

“We don't get chances like this all the time. We have to do this.”

“She’s right, Mic. We need the data, and we have the equipment to get it. Passing up an opportunity like this would be a waste,” Jean-Jacque argued. Their Captain, JJ, or  _ King _ as he liked to refer to himself, was usually right about these things, but the more Michele watched the water below them, the more his stomach turned.

“Come on. Get your gear on and let's go. Or am I going by myself?”

***

It wasn't just oppressive and crushing blackness. It felt thick, like swimming through mud. The pit was at least half a kilometre wide, making the ten-metre connection that tied Michele to his sister feel like a chasm of separation.

“ _ The sides -- shifting?” _ Sara static voice broke through his communicator as she moved out of his sight again.

“ _ Keep your communication open. I want you checking in every few minutes, and if something goes wrong, just scream. That'll get the message across quickly and I'll reel you up. King out.” _ JJ’s arrogant voice chirped over their radio and Michele had to resist the urge to turn it off completely.

“ _ The sides aren't -- it’s rock. It’s like -- dug _ .”

“What?” Michele kicked, attempting to bridge the gap between them, but it continued to stretch out. “Sara, what is it?” His radio crackled as the line connecting them strained.

Michele could still see the light of his sister’s chest piece, but it seemed far off and flickering. Looking down at his own, he could feel the pressure crushing his chest as he looked at their depth. They had moved further down then they had discussed before leaving the boat.

Michele looked back at where he had last seen his sister’s light, only to be faced with more darkness.

“Sara? Jean, have you heard from Sara?” Michele snagged the connection between them and tugged. It floated effortlessly back at him, the cord now jagged and frayed.

“Jean!”

Static responded.

Michele wrapped his hand around his up line that connected him to the boat, only to have his hand grip the end of another jagged piece of steel rigging.

_ How is it snapped like that? _

_ What the fuck is happening? _

_ Swim up. _

_ Or was that down? _

All he could see was barely his glove-covered hand in front of his chest and darkness. His own heartbeat was deafening as his breath crushed out of his lungs in constricting panic.

“Sara!”

_ Slow the breathing. _

Concentrating, he closed his eyes. The water wasn't rough. There was no way he could have shifted.

_ Up is up. _

Michele swam up, through the darkness above him, water sifting through his fingers like sludge. Pitch black stretching endlessly.

_ Sara. _

If he could get above the surface, reorient, he could figure it out- why the cord was cut, where his sister went, what's wrong with his coms.

_ Get to the surface. It'll be okay. There’s an explanation. _

_ Just, get there. _

Michele could feel his breath burning his throat.

_ Jean _ .

_ Sara. _

Minutes, seconds, hours.

His brain couldn't keep track of how long he had been crushed in the murky water, but it was too long. Michele felt cold all over, hands and feet spreading pins and needles into his limbs.

Suddenly he felt crushing pressure and pain around his ankle as he was yanked down. He had been swimming for so long that he couldn't even convince his arms to fight back or legs to kick out at whatever had a hold of him.

It took a while for him realise the screaming in his ears wasn't his own. His eyes had closed, and the tugging had stopped.

Peeling his eyes open like they were glued shut, most of what he could see was still utter, lonely blackness. Looking down at his feet, one flipper had slipped off, but his wetsuit shoe stayed firmly in place. Something shimmering caught his attention and he turned. Though whether it was actually turning or flipping or spinning, he honestly couldn't say; he couldn’t comprehend space or time any longer.

The shimmer was small, dulled from its distance but glinting, winking at him all the same.

_ Sara _ ?

Michele tried to force his voice to work, to try his coms again, but it was like the water had already invaded his throat. He couldn't make a sound. His voice was crushed by the weight of the ocean.

The silence was deafening, causing his ears to ring endlessly from the pressure trying to consume his body.

_ Light, any light was good _ .

It meant something other than the nothingness of darkness he was currently in.

Wading through the water was like thick quicksand. The more he tried, the more he kicked and push and pulled the liquid around him, the more the glint appeared to fade or change in size and distance.

_ There is no getting out of this. _

The voice was gravelly and scraped in his ears. It was true. He would run out of oxygen eventually, and that would be that.

** _You aren't worth it._ **

** _She is._ **

** _She would know what to do._ **

** _What are you without her?_ **

** _Nothing._ **

** _What is she without you?_ **

** _Everything._ **

_ No, not true. We need each other. She wouldn't leave without me. She will look for me. Even… even Jean would look for me. _

Michele reached out and tugged on his metre, looking at the little red needle shuddering over the E.

Oxygen deprivation.

It had started.

Michele wanted to sob. He felt the fear and terror that he had been holding back erupt from his body as he started shaking, the water vibrating around him with the motion.

Had he given up? He didn't want to…  _ couldn't, _ but what else was there to do?

His eyes felt heavy, like keeping them open was a chore, and he found himself letting them fall.

_ Violet,. So pretty _ .

_ Violet? _

_ Sara… _

_ Sara, she was violet. _

Michele’s eyes flew open, unfocused and tunnelled, but there was no denying the piercing violet that stared right through his very being.

_ Sara. _

Before the darkness descended.

***

_ ...King out.” _ Sara rolled her eyes in her mask. Jean was an arrogant jerk… a very attractive jerk, but still. She moved closer to the side of the chasm, using her gloved hand to run along its rippled edges.

“Strange. The sides aren't sand or anything I’ve really seen before. It’s rock. It’s like… it looks like something has dug it. There’s claw marks- Ouch!”

“ _ What happened?”  _ Jean’s worried tone rang through her ears as she stared at the large gash flowing red on the palm of her hand.

“It’s just a cut. Jean, the edges are really sharp, cut right through my suit… Mickey?” Usually, any sign of even a graze and Michele was frantically getting Jean to drag them up so he could look after her and subsequently fret for the rest of the day. Instead, she heard nothing but static.

Sara turned, only to see the look of terror on her brother’s face; like he was seeing his worst nightmare come to fruition and being tortured at the same time.

“Brother?” Sara heard herself say, her eyes too busy studying the blood staining the water around them. Surely that wasn’t all her own?

“JJ, can you talk to Michele?” Sara felt the panic setting into her core as she tried to control her breathing to avoid panic and oxygen waste.

The water pulsed, shifting just enough to press Sara back into the broken rock. A sharp pain shot up her leg, and she screamed, or at least it should have been a scream. Instead, the noise died immediately in her throat. A split appeared in her suit along her calf, the water like ice as it licked over her bare open wound.

Michele still hadn't moved. He was simply wading, kicking enough to keep himself floating in the same place.

_ Swim up. _

_ Get to the boat and pull Michele out. _

Sara kicked out, wrapping her uninjured hand around the steel connecting her to their boat. Kicking and worming her body up, Sara felt like she was struggling up the rope in gym class. No matter how hard she tried, she didn't seem to get any closer to the top.

The pain was making her dizzy. An ache started to coil around her leg and snake its way up, trying to overcome her.

She abandoned the rope, moving towards her brother. The fuzz in her head darkened her vision, only to startle awake some time later. She looked frantically around. Michele was above her now, still floating and distant. He was empty, nothing like her usual blustering whirlwind of a twin. 

** _Can't stay awake._ **

** _It burns._ **

** _Just let go. He can forget about you._ **

** _That’ll be better; less to worry over._ **

_ No! _

_ Have to stay awake. _

_ Why isn’t Michele worried? _

_ He will always worry. _

_ For me, he will. _

Sara attempted to reason with her sick brain as it focused on the ruby red staining the water around her. Grabbing hold of her brother’s ankle, Sara tugged him down to her level, legs feeling like dead weight at the end of her torso, only her arms keeping her afloat.

_ Michele. Open your eyes, brother, please. I can't. I need you. What’s wrong with you? _

“Michele?” Her voice rasped out his name, but it sounded distant, nothing like herself. No wonder he couldn’t see her.

Sara watched the edges of her vision blacken as her breath swooped rapidly in and out of her chest.

_ Please. _

She blacked out to the brilliant purple of her brother's eyes locked onto her own.

***

“Sara! Michele!” JJ yelled into his coms for the hundredth time. There was a chance it was nothing, and they would scold him for bringing them up too soon when they were just out of range or the depth had muddied their coms; it had happened before. But something about this felt different.

_ It’s been two minutes since they responded.  _

Use protocol was to leave it for five minutes. If they didn’t respond by then, JJ was allowed to flick the reel and bring them up. But this wasn’t like the usual times. This felt off, and it didn’t sit right in JJ’s stomach to wait any longer. He could hear his heart thumping rapidly in his chest as the panic for his best friends set in. Even compared to Michele, JJ was the real worrier. He just hid it better.

_ Can’t wait any longer. _

JJ slammed the lever to pull them up.

His breath felt harsh and loud as he struggled to hold it together. The clanging rattle of metal reeling them up pulled effortlessly.

There was something about this water. It didn’t act like the ocean; it darkened around this one spot. At times it was pollution from the surrounding area, but this... In the beginning, he had been filled with curiosity; maybe they could make a discovery, find a new creature that was causing this anomaly in the water. Now, the only feeling that consumed him was dread.

Unadulterated, undiluted  _ dread _ .

The instant he saw them, their bodies dredged up like corpses, everything felt icy cold and too hot all at once. They were pale, lips turned deep blue from the frigid waters. Red pooled around them lazily as they floated at the surface, their mouthpieces unused beside them, even as their metres clearly read  _ Full. _

** _Touch them._ **

** _Pull them out._ **

** _You know you need to._ **

** _Put them on the boat._ **

** _Revive them._ **

The words rattled through his head. It was his voice, but the thoughts came forced, unabated and foreign. Stolen voice. Another's words.

“What the fuck are you!” JJ found himself screaming, hands violently shaking as they moved towards the lines. He knew it would never be a good idea. Dread had soaked into his very being, but the idea the twins could die in this filthy, toxic water was worse than anything that could happen to him.

** _Can’t we just kill him? He hasn’t… yet._ **

The words were sharp and piercing, yet uttered in his own voice. If this kept up, he could feel it easily turning him insane.

“Stop it! You can’t do this. What did you do to them?”

** _Do to them? They did this to themselves._ **

The voice was still his, but this sounded less aggressive, more patient than the last.

JJ felt tears flood his face. Everything was warped and  _ wrong _ , but he couldn’t prolong it anymore. They still weren’t moving. Reaching his hand down, off the side of their boat, JJ tugged the line that connected the twins to one another. He hurled them onto the boat, and the water rolled off them, sluggish and thick like sticky goop, still clinging to their bodies like it didn’t want to release them to him.

** _It’s too late now._ **

** _Now you’ve done it._ **

** _Three of them. He will be pleased._ **

** _It’s their own doing._ **

** _Their fears are of one another, but what is his?_ **

“Get the fuck out of my head!” JJ screamed, trying to calm his breathing enough to perform mouth to mouth.

** _They died on your watch, you know?_ **

** _This is your fault._ **

** _Look what you did to them._ **

** _He knew you shouldn’t have pushed it._ **

** _He said they shouldn’t go down._ **

The water from their bodies felt like it was worming its way over JJ, trying to consume him too, drag him under with them. Looking out into the water, his attention was pulled to glinting red and soft yellow. He found himself lying on the floor of the boat, body shuddering and pulsing - entirely out of his control.

** _Oh, now he notices._ **

Suddenly, the colours blurred,rapidly materializing closer. Glistening, slimy arms with webbed fingers appeared on the side of their boat, and two faces popped into view. One had soft features, fiery hair and bright, sky-blue eyes that examined him curiously. The other was more hard edges, tangled blonde hair that dripped sludge down his cheeks, and piercing green eyes that glared back at him.

_ Beautiful. _

The thought soothed him like a balm - until they both smiled.

Their teeth were a sickly grey, monstrous and jagged, completely distorting their pale faces as laughter invaded his mind.

** _Beautiful?_ **

** _Asshole, don’t talk about something you don’t understand._ **

** _He doesn’t even see it, poor thing._ **

** _Going to make an ugly half breed. At least the others are interesting-looking._ **

** _Don’t be so rude._ **

It was his voice; how could they use it? The more he listened and watched them - watching him - he could feel their differences. Hard to say which was which, but the inflections and tones altered from one to the other as they pressed their voices into his head . He wasn’t even sure it was them forcing their way in, but it was the only explanation he could reason.

** _If you get in the water, it won’t be so painful, darling._ **

** _Don’t try and help the fucker._ **

** _Hush, come on. It will get better. Just let it take you._ **

** _Yeah, cause that worked well for the others._ **

JJ desperately wanted to get to Sara and Michele, to help them, to examine them and find a way to fix whatever these bizarre creatures had done to them, but his body wouldn’t move. Every nerve felt cut off, disconnected and broken. It wasn’t painful, just deadening, his entire being heavy and limp.

He couldn’t even bring himself to panic. His breath continued, even and constant.

** _It’s started._ **

Two versions of his voice stating simultaneously - one finishing with a sigh, the other a dark chuckle. It was sickening. The only feeling that didn’t appear numbed was the dread.

** _The others will wake soon. Wonder what they’ll make of him?_ **

** _They can have him as their first feed._ **

** _Don’t be such a brat._ **

_ Feed? Who is going to feed? _

JJ heard a gargled gasp like drowning breaths and scraping metal. A cold and slimy hand gripped his arm, giggles ringing and echoing in his head as a face swirled into his vision. Michele’s eyes were wide and violet, skin slick with the claggy water that still clung to him as his hair jutted out at random angles.

_ Thank god you’re okay. Check on Sara. _

JJ tried to speak, but the words failed as they ran through his head, and his breath came out gargled and watery.

It was then that Michele smiled at him.

Monstrous and jagged.

Grey.

_ Fangs. _

Morphing his once-familiar face into the stuff of nightmares.


End file.
